It’s impossible to assess the degree to which technology has entered the conversation of our lives.
What better proof than your GPS, traveling companion and guide to the destinations of your life, near and far? Think about how we’ve moved from Mapquest to Garmin to Siri in a few short years… and how the “technology” has become more “life-like” if that’s the word.
A short play of mine, accepted by a competition for drama under 15 minutes, will be running in NYC from March 4-13. “GPS III: Road to Conflict” is the third in my GPS series. The first one ran in 2011, when the technology was quite different.
It’s one of five short plays by different playwrights that make up each performance. “An Eclectic Evening of Shorts”/BRIEFS group.
[3/4, 9pm; 3/5, 9pm; 3/6, 3pm; 3/10, 7pm; 3/11, 9pm; 3/12, 3pm & 7pm; 3/13, 5pm
at Shelter Studios & Theater, 244 West 54th St., 12th Flr, NYC. Tickets: http://brownpapertickets.com/ ]
It enlists an iconic conflict theme, at least for us in the northeastern US – a Yankee fan and a Red Sox fan in a car on their way to a Spring Training game with the help of their GPS. It’s a bit of a spoiler to say that the trip summons up a conflict between GPS technologies complete with hurled insults and accusations of inaccuracy and irrelevance, devastating to any technology.
The production is put on by a unique not-for-profit organization with something valuable to offer all of us – Artistic New Directions ( http://www.artisticnewdirections.org/). This is a theater development company in the heart of Manhattan that puts on free weekly improv classes, and teaches classes in all aspects of theater relevant to every pursuit, on and off the stage.
If anything is more pervasive in our business lives than technology, it’s drama. It’s not an overstatement to say whatever your mission, its success depends to a great degree on how equipped you are to handle the situations that arise with the confidence and expertise of someone practiced in the art of improvisation.